


Career Day

by manymessyfandoms



Series: The Post-IW Life [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-08 07:52:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14689728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/manymessyfandoms/pseuds/manymessyfandoms
Summary: It's career day, and Peter's nearly as excited as Tony is.





	Career Day

“Class, don’t forget tomorrow is career day! And- Peter? Can I have a word with you?”

Peter’s head snapped up at hearing his name and he nodded, walking over to where she stood as the class filed out of the room. “What’s up?”

She looked at him with an irritated expression. “I think you need to take career day more seriously and stop treating it as a joke. ‘Tony Stark’? Really?”

It took him a minute to realize what she was saying. “Wha- no! It’s not a joke, I swear!” he said. “Tony’s coming, Ms. L. I promise.”

That was an understatement. Tony was more excited for Peter’s career day than Peter himself.

But his teacher didn’t look like she would quite believe that bit of information. “You’re really sticking with this then?” She let out a sigh. “Fine. But I’ll have you know if he doesn’t show tomorrow, I’ll have no choice but to mark you down a letter grade.”

Peter gave her a thumbs up, not worried in the slightest. “Okay, sounds good.” She just rolled her eyes slightly and waved him off.

Someone must’ve overheard them talking, because when Peter arrived at school the next day, he was getting strange looks.

“Dude,” Ned said as he walked up to him, “people heard Tony’s coming in for career day, and they are freaking out. Well, a third of them are freaking out. The rest think you’re lying.” Peter laughed for a moment before he felt something hit the back of his head.

It was another kid from Peter’s class. Flash hadn’t been an issue in so long, Peter had almost forgotten there was more than one asshole in the school.

“Hey, Parker. Somebody told me that you have Tony Stark coming in for career day, and you know what? I might actually believe them. I mean, your parents are dead, your uncle is dead, who else would be able to do it?” Peter felt his heart sink and he squeezed his hand into a fist. “I’ve heard rumors that Stark came by the school when you had that spaz attack, so maybe you’re not full of horseshit, but let me be very clear, it doesn’t matter who you know, you will always be nothing.”

Peter stood there as he walked away, not quite knowing what to do with all that. 

“-eter? Hey, Peter?” Ned’s voice phased in, and Peter looked towards him. “You okay, man? You kind of spaced out there for a second.”

“No, I’m fine,” Peter mumbled, looking back down at his shoes. He didn’t mean to be affected by the other kid’s words, but he couldn’t help it. His remarks about his parents and Ben were enough to knock the wind out of him.

Ned gave him a sympathetic look. “Don’t listen to that douchebag,” he said softly. “He doesn’t know shit.”

Peter nodded. “Right, of course. I know.” He faked a smile before walking to his next class.

He felt off for the rest of the day. It wasn’t until he finally got to his final period and he knew he’d see Tony that he started to feel like himself again. 

“Alright,” the teacher said as she glanced at the clock. “So, your parents should be arriving any minute now-”

As if summoned by her words, Tony Stark strutted through the door, and Peter’s smile grew genuine for the first time since that morning. 

“Am I late?” Tony asked. “I’m kidding. Of course I’m not late. Oh, Pete!” He walked over to where Peter was sitting and plopped into the space next to him. “Ah, this is cozy. Brings me back to my own high school experience. Although I really only was in class about 50% of the time.”

“Thank you for coming, Tony,” Peter said with genuine relief in his voice, and Tony scrunched his eyebrows. 

He casually slung an arm on Peter’s shoulder and lowered his voice. “What’s wrong, kid?”

The rest of the parents that were able to make it started entering, so the students’ eyes diverted from the two of them, but the eyes would only leave for a few moments before inevitably shifting back to them. 

“Nothing, I’m fine, Mr. Stark,” he muttered.

“You’re a horrible liar, Peter.” The teacher was speaking again before he could pester him more. 

“Okay then! I think that everyone’s here, so we could get started. We’ll be going alphabetically, so the Barch’s will be starting.”

It was only five minutes later that Tony nudged his shoulder. “You going to tell me what’s wrong or am I going to have to guess,” he said under his breath.

“I said nothing was wrong.”

“Yeah, and I said you’re a horrible liar. Now that we’re done recapping, can you tell me why you look like somebody kicked your puppy?”

“I don’t have a puppy.”

“It’s a metaphorical puppy, Parker.”

“Erm- Peter and Mr. Stark?” Ms. L’s voice interrupted. “Please no talking during the other students orientation.”

Tony gave her a thumbs up before saying, “Sorry, teach. Carry on.”

A few parents later, Peter felt something hit the back of his neck. He grimaced after wiping off the spitball and pointedly ignoring Tony’s look.

It was a bold move, Peter gave him that. Doing that with all the parents around. 

“Peter-”

His teacher’s voice cut Tony off. “All right, how about a round of applause for Mrs. Roland! Up next is Mr. Stark, here for Peter Parker.”

Tony glanced at Peter for a moment before he stood up walked towards the front of the room, tucking his glasses in his jacket pocket. 

“Yes, hello. I am Tony Stark, as I’m sure you all know, and I’m here to talk about what I do.” Tony went on with his speech and Peter spaced out, lulled by the sound of his voice, until his name startled him out of his trance. “Pete? Can you help me demonstrate the newest bot?”

Peter nodded and walked towards the front of the class. “Of course.”

“You see, Peter here helps me out with some of my most valuable assets. The kid might even know as much as me. In fact, I actually brought one of his own inventions.” 

“Wait, you brought Harry?” Harry was one of Peter’s AI robots. He wasn’t as advanced as Tony’s, but he was good enough for Peter to be proud of himself, and apparently Mr. Stark, too, because the pride in his voice was unmistakeable when he spoke next.

“It’s the most brilliant thing I’ve ever seen from someone his age. Let me tell you, this school doesn’t know what it’s got with this one. He’s going to be one of the greats. He’s already got one of the most brilliant minds, and he’s only sixteen. You’re lucky you have the privilege of having him here.”

Peter was blushing all the way down his neck by the time Tony had finished. “Uh- I mean, he’s exaggerating-”

“No, no, I’m not. Show them Harry.” 

He could still feel the heat on his face when he said, “Hey, Harry? Awake.” Immediately, the robot woke up and rolled over to where Peter was standing, and he grinned. “Hey, buddy.” 

“Hello, Peter.”

“So, why don’t you tell my classmates a little about yourself.”

Harry turned towards the class and started speaking. “Hello, Peter’s class. My name is Harry. I am a form of artificial intelligence crafted by Peter Benjamin Parker.” Peter was still smiling at his bot as he went into the specifics of his innerworkings, and Tony clapped a hand on his shoulder. “I sometimes help Peter when he goes out on missions, and the other Av-”

“Harry, sleep!” Peter yelled, and the bot shut down. His outburst caused the class’s looks to shift from wonder to confusion. “Uh, he calls everything ‘missions’. Like, I can be like, ‘Yo, Harry, where’s the nearest sandwich shop?’, and he’d be like, “It’s on 25th Street, good luck on your mission.’” There was an awkward silence and Peter could feel Tony choking back a laugh. 

“Right,” Tony said. “So, that’s Peter’s bot. I’ve got a few more things here that we work on- like that, Pete, grab that for me, will you?”

The rest of the presentation went well. It was when they got to the questions that things got… confrontational. 

“Yeah, I’ve got a question for Tony,” the kid from earlier that day said. “What are you getting out of all of this?”

Tony was quiet for a beat. “Pardon me?”

“Well, you’re a big shot billionaire with probably a million things to do. This seems a little below your pay grade.”

Tony squinted. “Is this guy kidding? Are you kidding?” 

“No, I’m being serious.”

“I thought this was fairly obvious, but I’m here because Peter needed me here.”

A scoff. “You expect us to believe that?” he said with bitterness. “That you’re here because of Parker? No, what is it really? Good publicity?”

Tony looked around the room in a dramatic way. “Do you see any cameras, because I don’t.” Tony kept talking before he could be interrupted. “You know, I don’t think I like you very much, pal. Like I said, Peter asked me to come, so I came. No ulterior motives.”

“But Peter doesn’t even matter.” And that was the wrong thing to say.

“I’m sorry, did you just say Peter Parker doesn’t even matter? Are you sniffing glue?”

Peter grabbed his arm lightly. “Tony, it’s fine.”

“No, Pete, I didn’t say all that stuff about this school being lucky to have you for shits and giggles. I said it because it’s true, and these teenybopper assholes shouldn’t be talking about things they don’t understand, which they obviously don’t, because if they understood the situation, they’d realize they’re all going to be working for you one day and would be kissing your ass.” Tony huffed out a dry laugh. “‘Doesn’t even matter’. Give it a few years, kid. Then you’ll realize what the rest of us already know. You’ll realize how much Peter Parker matters.”

Everyone seemed slightly stunned, including Peter. He hadn’t anticipated Tony to say all that stuff about him, and the redness was back in his cheeks. 

“Okay,” his teacher said, trying to gain control of the room again. “Okay, I think we’re done with questions. Why doesn’t everyone give a round of applause for Peter and Mr. Stark. Thank you for taking time to come out and speak with us, Mr. Stark.”

“The pleasure was all mine.” He glanced back to where the kid was avoiding his eye. “Well, mostly.”

Later that night when they were back at the tower, Peter sat on the couch while Tony threw a pizza in the oven.

“You didn’t have to say all that stuff, you know.”

“Huh?”

“Back at the school. You didn’t have to say that.”

Tony scoffed. “Kid, I know I didn’t have to. I wanted to because it’s the truth. It’s about time those monsters treat you the way you deserve.”

“But they weren’t entirely wrong. I mean, I am nothing, really.” 

Tony stopped from where he was trying to preheat the oven and walked over to where Peter was seated. “You don’t really think that, Pete. Right?”

Normally Peter didn’t listen to whatever people threw his way, but the comment about his parents and Ben ripped him open earlier, so when he was called “nothing”, it settled right in his heart and hadn’t left. 

“Yes. No. I- I don’t know.” He rubbed a hand over his face. 

“Peter, I meant every single goddamn syllable I said in there. And even if you weren’t one of the smartest kids, no people, I knew, you still wouldn’t be nothing. You’re Peter Parker. You will always be something.” Tony laughed. “Hell, you’re _everything_ , kid.” 

Peter sucked in a shuddering breath. “Thank you.”

Tony must’ve noticed the heaviness in his voice because he replied with, “Hey, don’t thank me. You’re the brilliant one, and if you need me to remind you everyday then I will. Actually- FRIDAY? Remind me later to make a pow-wow video for Peter to watch when his self esteem tank is on low.”

Peter laughed. “No! That’s embarrassing, don’t-”

Tony ruffled his hair before walking back into the kitchen. “Oh, I’m doing it, kid. You’re going to have confidence through the roof, just you wait. I can’t have you thinking you’re nothing, Pete. Not on my watch.”

And Peter smiled as his heart grew warm. It didn’t matter what the other kids said. 

He’d still always have everything.


End file.
